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II Samuel
Chapter
8
{Verses
1:14: David's Success in the Military Profession }
{Verses
1-2: David Defeats the Two Greatest Infantry Nations
of His Day}
{David's
Conquest over the Philistines}
1~~And
it came to pass, after this
{the David's spiritual prosperity of the previous chapter -
professional prosperity will follow},
that
David defeated the Philistines . . .
{tactical defeated them in battle}
and
subdued/conquered them
{means they won the war - to grind them into the dust - won't be
a problem for a while}.
And
David seized violently 'the bridal of the mother'
{Metheg ha-'Ammah - meant their 'central government' - as a bridal
controls the horse, so the central government controlled the
Philistine lands.}
from
the hand of the Philistines.
{Note: The Philistine mothers reared their sons to be soldiers and their daughters to be wives of soldiers. RBT says that women (and especially good mothers) were respected by the Philistines. The Philistines were a great warrior nation - and David won the battles and the war - professional prosperity for a military man.}
{David's
Conquest over the Moabites}
2~~Also
he {David} defeated Moab,
so
he measured them with a line,
making
them lie down to the ground
{David made the captives lie down in three straight lines}.
Consequently,
he measured two lines to put to death,
and
one full line to keep alive.
Therefore,
the Moabites became the servants of David
and
brought tribute.
{Note: Some peoples do not respect mercy. They only respect violence. Here the picture is one line, say the middle line, is surrounded by their comrades. David, gives the command and all in the two outer lines are cut to pieces with blood flying all over the inner line and it impresses them. These men will become David's personal body guard in the future. They know what it means to be on the bad side of David and want none of it!}
{Verses
3-8: David's Military Prosperity Continues - Conquest of the
Syrians/Arameans - Armored Forces}
3~~And
David defeated Hadadezer,
the
son of Rehob . . . king of Zobah,
as
he went to restore his rule/border at the river Euphrates.
{Note: Hadadezer was the greatest of armored force leaders of his day. He had armored chariots. He had a great Syrian kingdom called Aram-Zobah (nation of Aram/Syrian with its capital at Zobah) - a second Syrian group was at Aram-Damascus.}
{Note: To have peace, you must defeat in battle those who threat your nation. David was attacking first those nations who threatened his nation. This is a biblical principal. David will defeat these people and there will be 50 years of security to his nation by fighting a preventative war. To do this, you must have universal military training.}
{Results
of the Conquest
(translation corrected from I Chronicles 18:4)}
4~~And
David captured from him
one
thousand {chariots},
and
seven thousand cavalry/horsemen,
and
twenty thousand infantry.
And
David hamstrung all the chariot horses,
but
reserved of them for an hundred chariots.
{Note: RBT says the Jewish copyist made two errors here. First he left out 'chariots, which the KJ translator did insert. But he also converted 'thousand' to 'hundred' in error. In I Chronicles 18:4, we see that the number of cavalry was 7,000 captured not 700 as indicted as being here in II Samuel. See also Psalms 20. David may have written that Psalm after this military success.}
5~~And
when the Syrians/'Aram of Damascus came to help
Hadadezer
king of Zobah,
David
inflicted casualties in the Syrians/'Aram
two
and twenty thousand men.
{Note: Hebrew we have a Semitic group in the Hebrew is called Aram - and in the English are called the Syrians. And they are often confused with the group of people called Ashur in the Hebrew and we call the Assyrians. These are two different groups of Semitic peoples.}
{Note: David used the 100 chariots to beef up his recognizance abilities. They raced out and saw the Syrians coming on his flank. So, David sent out a force to destroy the Syrians also.}
{David
Handles Each Conquest Differently}
6~~Then
David established garrisons in Syria of Damascus.
And
the Syrians became servants to David . . . bringing tribute.
{this time David installed a puppet state to his north. That country
is called Syria today and had a military government as long as
David and Solomon lived. Efficient administration is always
pleasing to God.}
Consequently
Jehovah/God gave victory to David
wherever
he marched {halak}.
7~~And
David caused the shields of gold
that
were on the servants of Hadadezer,
to
be brought to Jerusalem.
{Note: David was a good executive. Other people must do the work under your leadership or you have failed in leadership. Find the person who can do it, and let him do it! That is what David did!}
8~~And
from Betah, and from Berothai . . . cities of Hadadezer . . .
king
David took large amounts of bronze
{See a similar passage in I Chronicles 18:8}.
{Problem
with the other Syrian Kingdoms and Success of David over Flattery}
9-12~~When
Toi king of Hamath
heard/'consolidated
the intelligence information'
that
David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer, 10~~
Toi
sent Joram, his son, unto king David,
with
congratulations/'petitions for peace' {shalowm},
and
to bless him {barak},
because
he had 'engaged in a {preventative} war' {lacham}
against
Hadadezer, and 'totally defeated'/smitten him.
For
Hadadezer had 'been perpetually hostile'/'had wars' with Toi.
Furthermore,
He {Joram} 'brought with him'/'presented to David'
precious
articles of silver, gold, and bronze . . .11~~
which
{the articles - accouterments of praise - articles of flattery}
king
David did also sanctify/dedicate to Jehovah/God
{David was not corrupted by the flattery - He gave the praise to
the rightful One - God},
with
the silver and gold which he had sanctified/dedicated
from
all nations which he conquered: 12~~
of
Syria, and of Moab, and of the citizens of Ammon,
and
of the Philistines, and of Amalek,
and
of the blunder of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
{Note: This is a good time to read David's Psalm 21. RBT says it applies here}
{The
Sneaky Nation - Edom}
13~~Consequently
David manufactured
{`asah - out of something else}
{out
of 'maturity adjustment to the justice of God'/
'out
of doctrine resident in his soul'}
him
a reputation
{from his own victories and for allowing his subordinates
to fight and win campaigns in other areas also}
when
he returned from his victory over the Syrians
in
the valley of salt,
{where
Abishai annihilated} . . . eighteen thousand men
{from I Chronicles 18:12 it is clarified that this is 18,000 casualties
not the size of the Edomite army that was defeated}.
{Note: From I Chronicles 18:12 we see that David turned over the battle in the valley of salt to his nephew Abishai. David's reputation was that not only could he fight, but he trained others to fight as well.}
{Note: RBT says Psalm 60 was probably written at this point.}
14~~And he {David} put garrisons in Edom.
Throughout
all Edom put he garrisons,
and
all the Edomites became servants of David.
And Jehovah/God preserved David wherever he went.
{David's
Prosperity as Ruler of His Nation - Principals of Good Government}
15~~So
David kept on ruling over all Israel.
Now
it came to pass,
David
manufactured {`asah - out of maximum doctrine in his soul}
Both
judgment/'punishment of crime' {mishpat}
{a successful government must have the control and suppression
of crime - crime is the great enemy of freedom, privacy, property,
and rights of ownership}
and
justice/virtue/integrity {ts@daqah}
to
all his people.
{Note: A ruler of a nation needs virtue so tyranny does not emerge. This comes from bible doctrine in the soul. The bible tells us that David set up a great legal system in Israel. In II Samuel 15, Absalom will tell malcontents that the system is bad to breed revolution against his father David.}
{Military
Administration under David}
16a~~Now
Joab {David's nephew},
the
son of Zeruiah {David's sister}
'commanded
the armies/'was chief of staff of the army'.
{Joab was the top military leader under King David}
{Note: Many people would NOT put their nephew in the job for fear of criticism. David had great inner courage. He knew Joab was the right man for the job so he gave him the job!}
{Note: RBT says that the bible does not tell us about Joab's father (and that of his two brothers), but the Historian Josephus tells us that he was Su-ree (sp) of Bethlehem and he died when they were young boys. Zeruiah raised three great warriors. She is one of the greatest women of the Old Testament (and almost unknown).}
{Civil
Administration under David}
16b~~And
Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud,
was
'Prime Minister' {mazkir (from zakar - to remember)}
{the policy maker above the state civil administration -
civilian equivalent to Joab - Military and Civilian/Political operations
should always be separated}
{Note: The separation of Church and State is important. But just as important (and violated in the US today) is the separation of Politics and the Military. When a civilian becomes President and interferes in military operations we have disasters - Truman over MacArthur in North Korea, Johnson 'running' the Vietnam War, and Carter's dismantling of the military are three examples. Also, we should have the separation of the state and 'free enterprise'. But with organizations like 'OSHA' that set up policies and also enforced those policies; and 'EPA'; and policies like 'minimum wage'; we see the deterioration of our free enterprise system.}
{National
Relationship with the Integrity of God - Separation of Church of State}
17a~~And
Zadok the son of Ahitub,
{from the house of Eleazar who was the eldest son of Aaron
(the priests needed to be of the tribe of Levi through the line of
Aaron)}
and
Ahimelech the son of Abiathar,
{they were from the house of Ithamar- the 4th and youngest son
of Aaron - (the sons of Aaron were Eleazar, Nadab, Abihu and
Ithamar - Exodus 28:1),}
were
appointed {High} Priests {kohen}.
{Note: Zadok was the chief of chaplains in the army. Ahimelech was the High Priest of the civilians.}
17b~~And
Seraiah was the scribe/'executive secretary' {caphar}
{handled the personal administration for David}.
{King's
Security}
18a~~And
Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada,
commanded
the Cherethites and the Pelethites.
{Next to Joab, Benaiah was the greatest military man of the day. He also succeeded Joab as Chief of Staff in the days of Solomon. The Cherethites were Achaean Greek sea peoples who became the Philistines. They were pirates for centuries and became traders and adventures. They formed the 1st battalion of David's Royal Guards. The Pelethites formed the 2nd battalion of the Royal Guards. They also were Achaean Greeks we call Philistines who were mercenaries that David recruited from his old headquarters at Ziklag. They were very efficient and troops totally loyal to David. They had a choice of being killed or join David. They chose to give their allegiance to David, and once doing so, they never let him down.}
18b~~And David's sons were chief administrators.
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